Tag Archives: Formula 1

Lancia was a late-comer to Formula 1 racing after World War II, but it had the genius of engineer Vitorrio Jano as its secret weapon. He had created the successful Alfa Romeo 8C pre-war.

So in late 1954 Lancia’s beautiful and unusual D50 joined the F1 circuit for the last race of the season, the Spanish Grand Prix where 2-time world driving champ Alberto Ascari put it on the pole with the fastest time.

While setting a fast pace with a record lap, it wasn’t reliable and lasted only 9 laps. But what had captured the racing public’s interest and other designers’ attention was its design with two outrigged pannier gas tanks, its off-center engine mount and low seating position to better distribute weight.

Now CMC nails the design in 1/18 scale with another hand-built metal die-cast model consisting of 1,598 parts, and no, I didn’t count them all.

The History

Gianni Lancia wanted to be a part of the F1 racing world so had Vano design the radical D50. Unfortunately it basically bankrupted his car manufacturing company by mid-1955 and he handed over the team to Enzo Ferrari. Continue reading Die-cast: CMC’s 1954-55 Lancia D50→

The ultimate experience for F1 fanatics

Slot Mods USA creates what could be considered the holy grail of slot car layouts for racers. I’m in for sure on that. These guys create over the top layouts which are all hand-crafted and museum quality. They create slot car tracks from vintage to modern-day circuits. The layouts guys like me and Mark dream about. Slot Mods crafts each layout utilizing styrofoam and construction-grade lumber, plus materials like marble, leather or exotic hardwoods. The details are amazing and looked after by everyone from fabricators to model artists. Slot Mods seems to keep crafting ones that are better and better each time. Their latest is an F1-commissioned build of the Canadian Grand Prix. Continue reading Small scale slot car track with big details→

Like this:

Ninco, now being distributed exclusively by Professor Motor in the U.S., is reintroducing a series of five somewhat generic Formula 1 cars to its lineup, a good product for clubs or groups that enjoy racing identical cars.

These racers resemble the former SCX F1 cars in that the front suspension looks real, with A-arms and wheels that are steerable, being controlled by the slot’s movement. The body resembles a Team Jordan F1 car from the late 1990s to early 2000s and in fact is labeled Jordan on the chassis.

Open wheel racers will welcome the new models.

Performance:

This racer is sturdy and likely the body will hold up well in heavy use. The nose wing is thick and well attached to the body shell as is the rear wing, which is molded into the bodywork, so less likely to snap off when the car de-slots. Its mirrors are the most likely body part to be lost over time.

That said, as with the former SCX models with steerable front wheels and a more detailed suspension, I suspect the thin suspension parts will snap after several heavy hits into other cars or during a serious de-slot. The good news is the cars will run even with damaged front suspensions, they just won’t look as realistic while on track.

Ninco uses its normally peppy NC-14 Speeder motor that generates 20,600 rpm. Straight line speed should be good, but on my test track the car was more than a full second slower than a similar Scalextric open-wheel car, with silicone tires. Silicones usually will cut a half-second off a lap time.

The standard tires here are a very hard rubber and grip is minimal. They also are quite stiff, so hard to remove from the wheel, but you’ll want to purchase proper silicones to give the car more grip. That helps in turns, but also in putting power to the track in a straight line.

The magnet Ninco uses is small too and sits in front of the inline motor instead of behind it, as in many other slot car chassis. That placement doesn’t help give it good rear tire grip or balance, so likely with slicks the Ninco will still be a hair slower that competitors. Again, if your buddies are all racing the other Ninco F1 cars, that won’t matter.

For gearheads, literally, the Ninco F1 has a 2.48mm axle and 9-tooth pinion and 24-tooth crown gear. The car weighs 73 grams and feels quite solid.

The test car was red with white and black trim on the wings and car’s sides and engine cowling. This is car No. 3, while the other cars in this series are No. 5 in black with slight yellow trim, No. 2 in blue and white, No. 15 in yellow and black, and an all-white model you can decorate yourself.

Bottom line:

Experienced slot car racers will recognize this as a somewhat simplified F1 car, but a good looking car for a newcomer. But you’ll need silicone tires and likely an additional magnet to keep it firmly planted on the track and able to use its power.

Well, consider that you probably didn’t know that Porsche ever raced Formula 1, and won. Consider too that only four of these cars were ever made.

Thanks to Autoart, that number is now growing, of course these are 1:18 scale diecast, so not quite as fast, or as dangerous as the originals.

A little background
In the early 1960s, the racing world, led by Formula 1 in Europe, was transitioning from front-engine to rear-engine cars. Porsche joined Ferrari, Lotus and others in developing new chassis and engines to show off their design capabilities.

Porsche was only in it for a short time, with moderate success in 1961 with its 718 and 787 models. But in 1962 Porsche created the slim 804 racer that won Porsche its one and only F1 race, the French Grand Prix at Rouen. American Dan Gurney drove the car, beating Tony Maggs’ Cooper by a lap. Gurney also won the non-points Solitude Grand Prix shortly thereafter.

This is Autoart’s version of that racer’s sister car, as driven by Joakin (Jo) Bonnier at Germany’s Nurburgring later that summer. The Gurney car also is available from Autoart, and both models also are available with driver figures. Continue reading Die-cast: Autoart F1 Porsche 804→